Forced labour: 7 recovered from Sheikhupura landlord

Man alleged that they had been tortured and not allowed to leave their workplace for 18 months.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court on Monday freed seven people including five children from the illegal detention of a landlord in Sheikhupura.

Muhammad Shabbir had filed a habeas corpus petition submitting that his relatives, including a woman and her five children, were being forced to work for a man named Nadir. He alleged that they had been tortured and not allowed to leave their workplace for 18 months.

A bailiff found the detainees, of whom there were seven, and brought them before Justice Rauf Ahmed Sheikh. The judge released them and ordered the police to get them examined to determine if they had been tortured. The detainees also protested outside the courtroom demanding the landlord’s arrest.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 29^th, 2012.